‘The Court of Appeal has handed down its ruling in a test case on compulsory ADR. Elizabeth England analyses the judgment.’
Local Government Lawyer, 29th November 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The changes extending fixed recoverable costs (FRC) to most civil litigation claims with a value of up to £100,000 are now here and were implemented on 1 October 2023. With this comes the new ‘intermediate track’ which lay between Fast Track and Multi Track cases valued at £100,000 and over. This article is not intended to tell you about the four complexity bands within the intermediate track or the grids of costs within PD45, or about the new standard directions for this track, but to say a few words about how the costs arising from vulnerability are to be dealt with.’
Gatehouse Chambers, 20th October 2023
Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk
‘The Lord Chancellor and senior judiciary have set out a “shared vision” for the future of the civil and family courts and tribunals system, including the establishment of an Online Procedure Rule Committee (OPRC).’
Local Government Lawyer, 20th November 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘An appeal was recently heard by, Mr Justice Freedman, about whether the preparation of a witness statement in English by a multilingual Claimant was CPR compliant or, in breach of Practice direction, 32.PD.18.1. The case is now reported as Afzal v UK Insurance Ltd (2023) EWHC 1730 KB.’
St John's Buildings, 31st October 2023
Source: stjohnsbuildings.com
‘There are very few people in this world who get excited when they hear the phrase ‘legal costs’. There are even fewer people who might be prepared to wade through an article on the same subject. However, something very significant is happening which will have a huge bearing on anyone who is involved, or might be involved, in any kind of civil litigation. The article below discusses the changes which are being made to fixed costs in civil litigation and I promise it is worth a read.’
Exchange Chambers, 13th October 2023
Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk
‘The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2023 were enacted on 1st October 2023, together with the 156th Update Practice Direction Amendments and Explanatory Note. This article provides an overview of the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) that apply to noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims.’
Farrar's Building, 20th October 2023
Source: www.farrarsbuilding.co.uk
‘This brief article considers the law on admissions made before the commencement of proceedings in the context of the recent revision of Part 14 of the CPR.’
St Philips Barristers, 24th October 2023
Source: st-philips.com
‘Lumb v Lumb [2023] EWHC 2052 (Ch) was an appeal on costs which sheds interesting light on how general rules of the CPR fit together with special provisions governing probate disputes. On a related note, it offers a case study of how the modern ethos of deterring dubious litigation can interact with legal principles of an earlier vintage. There were various other points of interest in the case, but I focus here on this theme.’
Wilberforce Chambers, 30th October 2023
Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk
‘A feature of judicial review procedure is that disclosure of documents is not required. The procedural rules make no provision for disclosure (indeed, they state that parties are not required to provide disclosure). Despite this, disclosure is increasingly provided in judicial review litigation as a matter of course. This is welcome. Appropriately focused disclosure facilitates rather than impedes efficient judicial review proceedings. It ensures judges and claimants are properly sighted on the decision-making process and it avoids the dangers of spin and omission in the summarisation of documents. But the approach taken by public bodies varies markedly, depending on their interpretation of the requirements of the common law “duty of candour”. In the absence of any rules governing the process, defendants sometimes do not disclose important documents while other cases get bogged-down in elaborate search and disclosure exercises.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 16th October 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘You can never have too many tracks, said no one ever. Apart from Sir Rupert Jackson who recommended that the small, fast and multi-track should be (and is from the 1st of October 2023), augmented to include a new intermediate track.’
Becket Chambers, 29th September 2023
Source: becket-chambers.co.uk
‘A feature of judicial review procedure is that disclosure of documents is not required. The procedural rules make no provision for disclosure (indeed, they state that parties are not required to provide disclosure). Despite this, disclosure is increasingly provided in judicial review litigation as a matter of course. This is welcome. Appropriately focused disclosure facilitates rather than impedes efficient judicial review proceedings. It ensures judges and claimants are properly sighted on the decision-making process and it avoids the dangers of spin and omission in the summarisation of documents. But the approach taken by public bodies varies markedly, depending on their interpretation of the requirements of the common law “duty of candour”. In the absence of any rules governing the process, defendants sometimes do not disclose important documents while other cases get bogged-down in elaborate search and disclosure exercises.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 16th October 2023
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) warned the government in July about the difficulty of meeting the timetable for the new regime of fixed costs in low-value clinical negligence cases, it has emerged.’
Legal Futures, 12th October 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The Claimant was a self-confessed “non-professional” landlord in that they had a single property they let out to a tenant. They were not, for example a sizeable social landlord with years of experience and many resources.’
Park Square Barristers, 14th September 2023
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘An Interim Payment (“IP”) is defined in CPR 25.1(1)(k) as a “payment by a defendant on account of any damages, debt or other sum (except costs) which the court may hold the defendant liable to pay”. In effect, it is a sum of money advanced to a claimant from the total pot of compensation they will get at the end of their Personal Injury (“PI”) claim. They are generally obtained in complex PI/clinical negligence claims involving substantial damages and sometimes an as yet uncertain prognosis.’
Pump Court Chambers, 15th September 2023
Source: www.pumpcourtchambers.com
‘The Civil Justice Council has published its final report on Pre-Action Protocols. Jim Byard summarises the main recommendations and discuss the implications for practitioners.’
Local Government Lawyer, 29th September 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Expert witnesses have made a last-minute call to scrap the rule in the new intermediate track for civil claims that limits their reports to 20 pages.’
Legal Futures, 29th September 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘The rules on expert witnesses in the courts of England and Wales are governed by Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules. One of the fundamental principles when it comes to expert evidence is that of independence.’
Mills & Reeve, 19th September 2023
Source: www.mills-reeve.com
‘A party to litigation can act in abuse of process in many different circumstances. Abusing the process of the court can lead to the striking out of a claim or defence, or to other less draconian sanctions. In this article, we consider when a claimant could be found to have acted in abuse of process shortly before and when issuing proceedings.’
Mills & Reeve, 19th September 2023
Source: www.mills-reeve.com
‘The Court of Appeal has settled the uncertainty around whether the ruling in Denton applies to applications to set aside a default judgment, writes Alastair Cantor.’
Local Government Lawyer, 8th September 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Richard Dewsbery reports on an important recent change to the Civil Procedure Rules that affects the N16A application form.’
Local Government Lawyer, 1st September 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2023